CAIRO: Egypt yesterday urged USauthorities to exercise restraint in dealing with racially charged demonstrations in Ferguson, Missouri — echoing language Washington used to caution Egypt as it cracked down on Islamist protesters last year. US foes Iran and Syria also lambasted the United States, but while they are frequent critics of Washington, it is unusual for Egypt to criticise such a major donor. It was not immediately clear why Egypt would issue such a statement.
Ties between Washington and Cairo were strained after Egyptian security forces killed hundreds of Muslim Brotherhood supporters following the army’s ousting of freely elected President Mohamed Mursi in July 2013.
The Egyptian Foreign Ministry’s statement on the unrest in Ferguson read similarly to one issued by US President Barack Obama’s administration in July 2013, when the White House “urged security forces to exercise maximum restraint and caution” in dealing with demonstrations by Mursi supporters.
The ministry added it was “closely following the escalation of protests” in Ferguson, unleashed by the fatal shooting of an unarmed black teenager by a white policeman on August 9.
Human Rights Watch said in a report last week Egyptian security forces systematically used excessive force against Islamist protesters after Mursi was ousted.
MOGADISHU: Somali security forces have arrested one of the country’s most powerful pirate chiefs, who once hijacked giant vessels earning him multi-million dollar ransoms, security sources said yesterday.
Mohamed Garfanji was seized late on Sunday in the capital Mogadishu along with several of his well-armed bodyguards, according to foreign and Somali security sources. There was no official confirmation from the internationally-backed government, and sources could not confirm if he was still being held. Both the United States and the Seychelles reportedly want to question him for his alleged kidnapping of citizens from both nations.
SANA’A: Hundreds of armed Shia rebels staged sit-ins yesterday on the outskirts of the Yemeni capital Sana’a, where protest leaders have demanded the government meet their demands within 72 hours.
Activists in the Ansarullah, or Houthi, rebellion erected dozens of tents at the western edge of Sana’a. Guarded by armed men, rebels were also putting up similar camps in the north and south of the city. Around 5,000 men arrived in the capital from Saada province, a traditional stronghold of the Ansarullah rebellion.
Rebel leader Abdul Malik Houthi on Sunday ordered his followers to march on Sana’a to bring about “the fall of the government, which has failed”. He set the government a deadline of Friday before the launch of other forms of “lawful” protest action, without elaborating.
BENGHAZI: Libyan authorities have decided to shut down two public television stations taken over by Islamist militias embroiled in clashes in Tripoli, a government official said.
“The authorities have closed Libya Al Wataniya which had been under the control of the provisional government and Libya Al Ramia which was the voice of parliament,” the official said, asking not to be named.
He said Nilesat had accepted requests from the heads of Libya’s government and parliament to halt transmission of the two satellite channels.
AGENCIES
